When it comes to the latest smartphones, everyone wants Apple's iPhones or the phones in Samsung's Galaxy line. However, there are those who cannot afford these types of pricey phones. Luckily, an Indian startup is providing an alternative to these expensive and highly sought after smartphones. The Ringing Bells unveiled Freedom 251, the most affordable smartphone.
The Ringing Bells Freedom 251 was initially announced at a price of $5 for each unit. However, the Indian company that produces it decided to lower its price by a dollar, bringing the price down to a very affordable $4 sans shipping and third party seller fees. Because of its low price, Ringing Bells is selling their product at a loss of about 150 rupees or $2.2 each.
So far, Ringing Bells has produced nearly 200,000 units of their highly anticipated Freedom 251 handset, says a report from the International Business Times UK. "We will start delivery from June 30," says Mohit Goel, the CEO and founder of Ringing Bells. Goel also says that they will reopen registration once they have completed their initial shipment of the 200,000 units within the first week of July.
Although a lot of people are looking forward to receiving their Freedom 251, it has also been surrounded by much controversy. First off, it has been criticized for simply being a rebranding of Adcom's Ikon 4. Second, the Freedom 251 handset has also been criticized for running only a crude copy of Apple's famed iOS. Ringing Bells also could not deliver on its promise of shipping 2.5 million units after over 70 million people registered to buy it within 3 days of release.
"The 3G Android 5.1 smartphone has a 4in screen, 8-megapixel rear camera, 3.2-megapixel selfie camera, a 1.3GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, with a microSD card slot for adding more," per reports from The Guardian. The Ringing Bells unveiled Freedom 251 has everything a smartphone needs.
